Shader 4 and More

You can create as many shaders as you desire. If you feel that you need variation at a certain point, just choose the required maps and use the same logic above to create the shader.

Shader Application

Maya: Just select the polygons and apply the top_level shader to it.3ds Max: You can create a multi-sub object and use it as a switcher between various top_level shaders. You will also need to give polygons their material IDs (Fig.20).

Fig.20

Distribution Test

I quickly set up a simple distribution using the geometry as well as the shaders created in this tutorial, as I just wanted to see how the textures were reacting with each other (Fig.21).